Rotatably mounted wringer for washing machines



Sept. 29, 1936. A. B. BETZ 2,055,960

ROTATABLY MOUNTED WRINGER FOR WASHING MACHINES Filed Jan. 8, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l @wuentoz ow X MR5 Sept. 29, 1936. A. B. BETZ 2 5 ROTATABLY MOUNTED WRINGER-FOR WASHING MACHINES Filed Jan. 8, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I 1mm Snow Him:

Patented Sept. 29, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,055,960 ROTATABLY MOUNTED WRINGER FOR WASHING MACHINES Arthur B. Beta, Cleveland, Ohio Application January 8, 1935, Serial No. 920 9 Claims. (01. 68-32) My invention relates to an improvement in rotatably mounted wringers for washing machines, and in general my object is to provide means adapted to safe-guard wringing operations and to permit of the wringer to be operated safely and the goods to be released instantly from the wringer rollers, either by back pull upon the goods, or by a slight movement of the wringer with respect to the washing machine. Thus my improved wringer includes the use of means adapted to disconnect or throw-off the pressure mechanism for the rollers automatically and instantly upon or by shifting the wringer bodily from a predetermined working position, so that forward pulling or backward pushing of the rotatably mounted wringer in a short arc permits the rollers of the wringer to be instantly released. To illustrate, when a hand is caught in the goods and is being drawn into the wringer the natural impulse of the person endangered is to draw the hand and body away from the wringer, and this natural impulse is utilized in the present invention to shift the wringer and disconnect the mechanism which yieldingly forces the wringer rollers toward each other. My present invention may readily be used for wringers mounted to swing one hundred and eighty degrees so that in onesetting of the wringer the goods are fed away from the operator and in the second setting toward the operator, and suitable provisions are made to permit the pressure applying mechanism to be automatically disconnected when the wringer is turned out of anyone of its adjusted positions.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing partly in section the wringer and my improvement, the wringer being operatively connected to the power transmitting shaft wringer;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view on line 22 of Figure 1 showing the coupling of the wringer drive shaft with the pressure relief mechanism of the wringer;

Figure 3 is a side elevation similar to Figure 1' showing partly in section a somewhat modified form of my improvement;

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view on line 4-4 of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view on line 5-5 of Figure 3.

The present invention is applicable to various kinds and types of preferably power driven wringers and washing machines, which according to common practice mount a wringer 2 in a swinging position upon an upright tubular member 3 fixed to a washing receptacle 4. The wringer 2, is driven by a shaft 5, which is coupled with a pair of rubber covered wringer rollers l and H journaled in the yoke shaped wringer frame l3, by means of three bevel gears 6, 'l, and 8 respectively, a shifting clutch 9, being provided to control the operation of the gears. The tubular member 3 which houses the shaft 5 is held rigidly at its upper end in a bracket l2 at one side of receptacle 4, said member 3 ex- 10 tending beyond bracket I2 and up into a wringer bracket l5. Shaft 5 includes a short axial extension M which extends upwardly through an upright wringer bracket l5, a gear box I6 for the gears 6, 1, and 8 and the shifting clutch 9, 16 which standard and gear box carry the wringer 2. The lower portion of the wringer bracket l5 extends into and has rotatable bearing within the upper end'of tubular member 3, and the extension I4 is coupled to shaft 5 by means of 20 a threaded sleeve l8, so that the extension may be slightly adjusted upwardly or downwardly.

The wringer 2, which may be of any suitable kind or make, embodies a bow spring I9 which engages and presses the top roller l0 downwardly upon roller l l. A tension screw 20, centrally arranged in the top of the frame l3,- and engaging the spring l9 intermediate its ends, provides means for adjusting the tension of the spring. The rotation of the wringer rollers is manually controlled by means of the shiftable clutch 3, actuated by a lever 52. However, this lever can not always be reached or operated in an emergency, or the person endangered may not have the presence of mind to shift the lever 52 in a crisis, and therefore I have devised a simple expedient for disconnecting the tension screw 20 instantaneously, and relieving the upper roller ill from pressure engagement with the lower roller ll. I 7

Thus, I mount a collar or sleeve 21 rotatably upon the upper end of tubular member 3. This collar is provided at its bottom portion with one or more beveled lugs 23, and the top of bracket I2 is formed with sloping recesses or depressions 24 adapted to receive and nest said lugs, thus normally permitting the collar-to rest fiat and low upon bracket I2. Wringer bracket l5 has an annular enlargement or shoulder 25, adapted to rest upon the upper edge of collar 2|, consequently when said collar is rotated from its normal or Figure 1 position the inclined or beveled lugs 23, at the bottom of depressions 24 will rideup the inclined .walls of these depressions'and raise the collar and wringer bracket jointly. This upward movement of bracket l5 also raises the wringer 2 vertically. and imparts a tilting movement to a bell crank lever 26, pivotally secured to the wringer frame l3 at 21. This bell crank is provided at one end with a perforated lateral arm 28, through which the upper end of the extension H of shaft 5 projects, and to which the extension -is secured by means of a collar 29. The other end of said bell crank is pivotally connected to a rod 32 at 3|. This rod extends with its free end through a slot 33 in the wringer frame l3 and engages and holds in proper position a hingedly mounted bracket 34, which threadedly engages the tension screw 20. The bracket 34 is hinged at one side to a pin 35 in frame I3 and carries at its opposite side a shoulder or finger portion 36 adapted to be engaged by the free end 31 of rod 32. A cross pin 38 close to the bracket 34, and above the free end of rod 32 prevents undesirable bending of rod 32, when the wringer frame is elevated, and a second cross pin 39, positioned below the rod prevents the latter from dropping upon the spring |9, when the rod and bracket are disconnected. a

The collar 2|, must of course be locked to the wringer bracket to permit of the former being rotated when the wringer frame is swung on its pivot, and any suitable lockingmeans may be used for that purpose. In the present instance I employ a bolt 40 slidably supported at one side of bracket IS, the lower end of the bolt being adapted to enter radial notches or openings 4| in the flange of the collar. When the bolt is in locking engagement with collar 2|, and either a pushing or pulling effort is made by the operator whose hand becomes caught between the rolls, the rod 32 will be moved longitudinally out of engagement with the bracket 34. At the same time the spring pressure of spring IS on upper roller l0 will be instantly relieved as the wringer is bodily shifted from its operative position. When a different operative setting of the wringer is desired,

bolt 40 is raised and the supporting bracket of the wringer is rotated independently of collar 2|, until the bolt seats in a different notch, the collar will remain stationary because its bottom lugs 23 are nested within and non-rotatably coupled with fixed bracket I2.

Thus the wringer may be rotated from notch to notch in collar 2| without rotating the collar or releasing the tension of spring upon the upper roller, and when rotated to a new position the bolt will again lock the parts together and the collar will thenfunction to raise the standard providing the wringer is turned-in either direction from its given working position. A sharp or strong pull on the wringer or thegoods passing through the wringer will however unseat the tension screw 20 from its operative position, and the same result will follow if the wringer is pushed in the opposite direction, but such unseating will not occur during the ordinary operation of the wringer, the annular lugs- 23 and the weight of the wringer preventing this. When the bracket 34 is disengaged from the rod 32 the spring l9 shifts the bracket around its pivotal support at 35 until the spring pressure is fully relieved. To reset the wringer the tension screw 20 in bracket 34 is partly unscrewed, then the wringer is rotated to a working position with lugs 23 embedded in the recesses 24 in bracket |2. In this position the rod 32 engages the shoulder or finger portion 36 of the bracket, holds the same in proper position and therefore permits tensioning of the spring l9 by the tension screw 28.

13 of the wringer To exemplify, another form of the invention is shown in Figures 3 to 5 wherein the axial movement of a shlftable rod 4| is effected by cam action. Thus the upper end of the extension |4 of shaft 5 carries a beveled nut 42, which cooperates with a cross head 43 embodying a beveled inner wall 44. A spring member 45 draws the beveled face of the nut into contact with the beveled inner wall 44 of the cross member and thus insures automatic shifting of the shiftable rod 4| secured to said cross head when the collar 2| functions to raise the wringer bracket l5 due to the turning of the wringer in either direction from its given working position.

In the modified form just described the bracket 46 which supports the tension screw 20, for the spring I9, is rigidly secured to the yoke frame 2 by means of rivets 41. Bracket 46 however includes a rectangular threaded sleeve member 48 through which the tension screw 20 is threaded and this sleeve member is slidably mounted in a rectangular passage 49,'of said bracket for axial movement with respect thereto, thus providing for the release of spring tension on the rollers when the wringer frame is rotated. Sleeve member 48 is adapted to be coupled with the longitudinally shlftable rod 4| by means of a shoulder 5|] formed by notching the ,outer wall 'of member 48 opposite the end of rod 4|, as best illustrated in Figure 3, otherwise the modified structure closely resembles the structure shown in Figure 1.

Having thus described my invention, what I' claim is:

1. A vertical wringer post, a wringer bracket mounted on the post, a wringer carried by the bracket and having a pair of rolls, the bracket and 'wringer being swingable about the axis of the post and vertically slidable, means on the wringer to press the rolls together, the means being held in operative position by a latch, a shaft extending from the post into the bracket, coaxial with the post, the shaft being free to slide with respect to the bracket and not free to slide with respect to the post, cooperating cam surfaces carried by the post and bracket adapted to carry the weight of the bracket and wringer and to lift the bracket and wringer when they 2. In a wringer embodying a post, a bracket, I

rotatable to different stationary positions about said post, a shaft extending from the post into the bracket, coaxial with the post extending through said bracket, a wringer carried by the bracket and post having a pair of rollers yieldingly pressed together and connected to said shaft, pivotally mounted means on said wringer adapted to adjust the pressure between said rollers, shiftable latching means coupled to said pivoted means and said shaft for locking said pivoted means in proper working position, and cam means on said rotatable bracket and post for automatically unlocking said shlftable means when said bracket is initially rotated from any of its given stationary positions.

3. In a wringer as described in claim 2, wherein said unlocking means embodies a stationary bracket on said post, and a rotatable collar on said wringer adapted to adjust the pressure between said rollers, means coupled to said pivoted means for locking said pivoted means in working position, unlocking means coupled to said wringer and to said locking means said unlocking means being also coupled with said driving means and adapted to unlock said locking means, and means in said rotatable bracket adapted to raise said wringer with respect to said driving means when the wringer is shifted to automatically disengage said locking means from said pivoted pressure engaging means.

' 5. In a wringer as described in claim 4, wherein said unlocking coupling means embodies a bell crank coupling member, pivoted to said wringer, said member being coupled to said locking means and said stationary means.

6. In a wringer embodying a bracket rotatable to diiferent stationary positions about a post having power transmitting means extending therethrough, a wringer supported thereby and having a pair of coacting rollers yieldingly pressed toward each other connected to said power transmitting means, shiftable means on said wringer adapted to adjust the pressure between said rollers, other shiftable means connected to said pressure adjusting means for locking said first means in proper working position, and cooperating cam means on said second locking means and said driving means for shifting said locking means and automatically unlocking same by rotation of said wringer about said post.

7. In a wringer as described in claim 6 wherein the cooperating cam means on said shiftable means and said stationary means embody means associated therewith for yieldingly holding said shiftable locking means in locking engagement with said pressure adjusting means.

8. In a wringer embodying a bracket rotatable I to diiferent stationary positions about a post having power transmitting means extending therethrough stationary axially, a wringer supported by said bracket having a pair of coacting rollers yieldingly pressed toward each other and connected to said power transmitting means, shiftable means on said wringer adapted to adjust the pressure between said rollers, shiftable means connected to said pressure adjusting means for locking said means in proper working position, and cam means on said shiftable locking means and said driving means for unlocking said lock-' ing means, said cam means embodying a sleeve like member secured to said locking means and yieldingly forced thereby to the locked position for said locking means, and a cone shaped memher in said sleeve like member adJustably secured to the power transmitting means of said wringer, said rotatable bracket having a collar and a stationary bracket associated therewith, said collar and bracket having inclined portions thereon i adapted to raise said rotatable bracket when the wringer is shifted.

9. In a wringer according to claim 2, wherein said unlocking means embodies a rotatable collar and stationary bracket associated with said wringer bracket, said collar and bracket having inclined portions thereon adapted to raise said wringer bracket when the wringer is shifted. and wherein means are provided in said wringer bracket to releasably fasten said member and collar together.

ARTHUR B. Km. 

